We chatted to Ina about her film ‘Such A Vivid Imagination’, which will be the final film to be screened as part of this year’s London’s Breeze Film Festival.
Hi Ina, how does it feel that ‘Such A Vivid Imagination’ will be the closing film for this year’s London Breeze Film Festival?
Honestly, it still hasn’t quite sunk in. Closing a festival like London Breeze is such a huge honour, and for a small independent film like ours it means so much more than just a great slot in the programme. It’s a real vote of confidence from people whose taste in film we admire enormously, and we’re incredibly grateful they chose to end the festival with our story.
How did the film come about?
When Dave Fedash brought me this script, I was immediately hooked by the main character, Celia — she’s single-minded, observant, smart, and brave, a proper twelve-year-old force of nature. But it was the twist that really got me. It genuinely shocked me on the first read, and I knew straight away I wanted to build a whole film around that feeling. I was a bit of a tomboy myself growing up, and always thought “girly” things were a bit stupid, so I understood Celia’s resistance to all of that immediately.
Dave and I had written another script together, which we couldn’t get off the ground. Even when people liked the writing, the response tended to be the same: with no names attached and my lack of previous feature directing experience, financing was difficult. I’d been working as an AD for a long time, but coming to directing later in my career made things even a bit more complicated than usual.
So Dave wrote this script with the idea that we’d just make it ourselves, outside the traditional funding route. We were prepared to shoot it on an iPhone if that’s what it took. I asked Julia Gurry to come on board as producer, and she fell so completely in love with the script and the cast — our three girls — that she pushed us to raise our ambitions. She brought in Alessandro Garrau as a fellow producer, and between the two of them, that scrappy iPhone idea grew into a proper, high-end production. So in a way, the film exists because we stopped waiting for permission and just got on with it.
What can audiences expect from ‘Such A Vivid Imagination’?
I’d call it an arthouse film for kids, one that takes them and their issues seriously, without ever talking down to them. It holds onto the wonder of childhood, and then shows what happens when that wonder starts to crack. Working with kids gave the film an honesty you just don’t get with adults, and I wanted the tone to match that: dark and funny, often in the same breath.
We shot it in Gloucestershire, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, and its moody, brooding forests and valleys practically become a character in themselves.
What for you makes film festivals such as the London Breeze Film Festival so important?
Festivals like London Breeze are a genuine lifeline for independent filmmakers, now more than ever. It’s a tough time to be making films outside the traditional funding routes, especially for prestige drama. Funding for indies is harder than ever to piece together, distribution is unpredictable, and a lot of the old routes to an audience just aren’t there anymore. When you don’t have a marketing budget or a built-in audience, festivals are often the first place your work gets seen by people who aren’t attached to the project. They are where you find your audience, meet other filmmakers, and get championed by people who genuinely love cinema rather than people looking at a spreadsheet. London Breeze in particular has such a great reputation for supporting new voices and celebrating independent storytelling, and in a climate like this, that kind of platform is everything for a small film like ours. It gives us a real shot at reaching people.
How did you find the experience of putting the film together?
It was hard, but in the best way. We shot in two blocks — one week over the Easter holidays, then the main shoot over the summer — which felt like a challenge at the time, but turned out to be a real gift. It meant we could assemble the first scenes we’d shot, see what was working, and make adjustments before we went back for the bulk of filming. The weather in April was absolutely horrendous, but the girls were troopers through all of it.
Working with Sheherazade Farrell, who plays our lead Celia, was one of the real joys of the whole process. She’s so mature for her age, and building that challenging character together was just so much fun. I feel so lucky to have had that relationship with her. I was also blown away by the support from her parents and all the girls’ families throughout — it made such a difference to how the whole shoot felt.
The cast were wonderful across the board, but what really stayed with me was the crew — so many of them stepped into roles they’d never done before, and just threw themselves into it. Everyone gave everything, even those working for deferred pay, which still humbles me when I think about it.
And the local community were extraordinary. They offered up rooms to house cast and crew, a local cafe did our catering, and every location owner was wonderfully accommodating. This film wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for all of them, and I am so grateful.
To find out more about the festival visit: https://londonbreezefilmfestival.com/